Renfroe faces next challenge in Double-A

Andrew Foulk/Special to the UT/ Lake Elsinore Storm RF, Hunter Renfroe, keeps his eyes on the ball before taking the plate during a game against the Modesto Nuts, Saturday, April 19, 2014.

Andrew Foulk/Special to the UT/ Lake Elsinore Storm RF, Hunter Renfroe, keeps his eyes on the ball before taking the plate during a game against the Modesto Nuts, Saturday, April 19, 2014. (www.andrewfoulkphotography.com)

Hunter Renfroe did not homer in his first Double-A game. He did, instead, in his second.

It happened in the bottom of the eighth. The pitch was a chest-high fastball that was lasered onto the left-field berm at San Antonio’s Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium.

Thursday notwithstanding, Renfroe, the Padres’ first-round selection in 2013, figures to see fewer of those at this level. In large part, the 22-year-old outfielder earned his recent promotion - following Tuesday’s California League-Carolina League All-Star game - by obliterating Single-A fastballs. With Lake Elsinore this season, Renfroe hit .295 with 16 home runs and 52 RBIs, slugging .565.

In April, he hit .262 with 40 strikeouts. In May, he hit .340 with 28 strikeouts in May. And in the first half of June, he hit .316 with 13 strikeouts.

“In April, the strikeouts were pretty significant, the average was down,” said Randy Smith, the Padres’ vice president of player development. “We talked to him about, with his strength, he doesn’t have to hit the ball 500 feet. … We kinda pounded that into him, using more of the field, left-center and over.

“The strikeouts went down and the average went up and he maintained the power and the RBIs,” Smith continued. “So we thought, ‘Let’s go to the next level.’ He’ll see more breaking balls, more breaking pitches when they’re behind in the count.”

Off-speed offerings loom as an unconquered challenge for Renfroe, though the Padres deemed him more than ready for the Texas League.

“He looks like a middle-of-the-lineup hitter,” Smith said.

Smith jumps, too

Mallex Smith, another notable Padres prospect to earn a recent promotion, stole his first base for Lake Elsinore on Friday. With low Single-A Fort Wayne, the swift outfielder was already leading all of professional bases with 48 swipes. Smith, 21, was hitting .295 with a .393 on-base percentage.

Smith spent all of last season with Fort Wayne, hitting .262 with a .367 on-base percentage while collecting 64 steals.

“His challenge at the next level is becoming a better baserunner,” Randy Smith said (Smith was caught stealing 16 times this season with Fort Wayne). “Just better jumps, better routes in the outfield, facing better pitching. We pushed him last year in Fort Wayne. We had him repeat, and he did exactly what we hoped for with an improved on-base percentage and an improved average.”

Mallex Smith’s progress hit a temporary speed bump Friday. Not long after the steal, he exited with a minor hamstring pull, landing him on the 7-day disabled list.

Notable

Top left-handed pitching prospect Max Fried is likely two weeks away from beginning his season, Randy Smith estimated. Fried has been dealing with forearm soreness since before spring training. Fried long-tossed from 150 feet on Thursday. “He says he feels great, the doctors say he’s perfectly fine,” Smith said. “We just need to get him out there and see if he’s going to compete.”

Second baseman Cory Spangenberg, having been cleared to resume baseball activities, began hitting in the cage and taking grounders on Monday. Spangenberg had been sidelined the last two months after suffering his second concussion (the first incident cost him six weeks in 2012). He is expected to play in the Arizona Rookie League this week.